SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS
CLIENT
SCHOLASTIC
MARKET
NEW YORK CITY
WALLS
1
Scholastic joined forces with Colossal to celebrate the talent of Steven Paul, Gold Medal recipient of 2014’s Arts & Writing Awards. The Brooklyn high school senior’s photograph, Lost Time, was placed on display with other winners at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, but Colossal had something bigger in mind.
“Our painters transformed Paul’s artwork into a larger-than-life hand painted mural overlooking Broadway Avenue.”
Colossal donated the four-story wall to The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping the awards possible since 1923. The program is the largest single source of creative scholarships for teens, and boasts impressive alumni including Lena Dunham, Stephen King, and Robert Redford. Jason Coatney, a Colossal veteran and one of the painters that worked on the mural, is also a past award winner.
WINNERS CIRCLE
Paul and 500 other students were chosen from 255,000 submissions to be honored during a ceremony at Carnegie Hall. Paul says winning the award and seeing his work recreated on a giant outdoor canvas has been “one of the most epic moments” of his life.
LEFT / VIRGINIA MCENERNEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT THE ALLIANCE FOR YOUNG ARTISTS AND WRITERS, AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS STEVE LEVIN AND JUMAANE WILLIAMS PRESENT THE AWARD TO PAUL.
“The wall immediately became an iconic neighborhood landmark, with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Brian Williams’ Nightly News bringing its story to a national audience. NBC’s Harry Smith nicknamed it the “Mona Lisa of Williamsburg.””
